July 11, 2024 • 41 mins
In the fall of 1997, Israel’s father gifted his 17 year old son, a rundown house on 10 acres of land in Constable, NY; A small Franklin county town located five miles north of Malone. Israel lived on this property until his enlistment in the army in the summer of ‘98. Over a decade later he hid a weapons cache 60 miles southwest along the shore of Blake Falls Reservoir. In this episode, Joshua visits the location of this recovered cache, hidden by Keyes a year before his arrest, to see what can be learned.
Music: "part 2" by Dirt Jake Replicas
Backing Tracks: Somewhere In The Pines
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With Special Guests:
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Jeff -----------
Resources:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
This is a studio both and collaboration. Somewhere in the Pines is a serial
podcast containing adult content, including descriptionsof violence, sexual assault, and suicide.
Listener discretion is strongly advised. Lasttime on Somewhere in the Pines that
(00:30):
morning in twenty twenty two, wepacked our equipment into the car to make
the almost six hour drive to thetop of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Hoasically,
you have no reason to trust me, but I can tell you right now
there is no one who knows me, or who has ever known me,
who knows anything about me. Really. We believe that he had different types
of cases for different situations, andit was the overall plan that dictated the
(00:53):
type of cash that he used.We are just west of Court Angelus.
He drove up spirits about moving ona Friday, just off Highway one twelve.
You got your monster. I'm theonly one who knows about it.
Still going there with strangers. Intwenty twelve, the last in law enforcement
(01:26):
came face to face with one ofthis country's most prolific serial killers. His
name is Israel Keys. Investigators sayIsrael Keys had a so called murder kit.
He strategically hit a box filled withweapons and tools near the Windowski River.
There is a orange defot booked insidewould be a gun, weapons of
(01:47):
rope, sip ties. And healways flew somewhere, rented a car and
then drove hundreds, if not onethousand mile. He's told investigators he left
the kids in Washington State, Wyoming, and Texas and Land the hide one
and air. He has had awhole bunch of states. I mean Alaska,
Vermont, Washington, Warregon, NewYork, New Jersey, California,
Texas, Illinois, Tennessee. Hehad a cash in Washington. Very all
(02:12):
right, those kid. I wasused to dream that I'd find buried trade
and very well, if I can'tfind it, I might as well create
it. Seated at the end ofa long conference table, the head of
the table, the center of attentionsits Israel keys head down, shoulders,
(02:36):
resting at a slouch in his stateissued orange jumpsuit. He is hardly the
image of terror who collected victims allacross the United States. Israel fiddles with
the silver shackles that bind his wriststo his waist and again to his ankles.
The six foot two, one hundredand ninety five pound killer with his
full head of dark brown hair slickedback, silently waits for special agents and
(02:58):
federal lawyers to enter the room.He remains unnaturally still. If it wasn't
for the video time stamp, slowlytaking away each second, you may find
yourself wondering if you forgot to pressplay, you guys recording All right,
(03:32):
good morning, Israel. I'm justgonna make sure you know who's in the
room. I think you know everybodyso far, but Kevin fellowed us from
the US Attorney's Office, Frank Russoalso with the US Attorney's Office. You
know Officer Jeff Bell Angrish Police Department. And this is Agent Goden from the
FBI. Joline. Okay, Israelhas given a different colored chair from everyone
(03:53):
else in the room, the onlypadded chair at the table, a subliminal
tactic that gives Israe the illusion ofbeing in control and preserving his individuality.
Cups of coffee, candy bars,and cigars are common gestures provided by the
interrogators, tokens of a facade offriendship, collaboration, and understanding, little
(04:15):
dopamine spikes that will hopefully entice himto continue talking to continue. Coming back
from the outside looking in, It'seasy to get frustrated at times as law
enforcement navigate their way through a verydifferent type of investigation. But listen after
listen reveals a well scripted plan andexecution apprize many small details out of Israel
as possible, all while giving himthe illusion of control. They understood that
(04:40):
control is something that Israel craves morethan anything, and any attempt to lie
or mislead him could backfire and havesevere repercussions, potentially breaking the trust between
them and eliminating any chance of discoveringmore victims. Wanted to do the preliminaries
that we have to do, whichis first and it asks them to read
your right. We know you've heardhim before, but we're going to just
(05:01):
do that every time. Okay,all right, I'll go over them with
you, just like Kevin said,you know this already, but you have
the right to remain silent. Youunderstand that yes, okay, anything you
say, Kennon will be used toagainst you in a quarter of law.
Understand that yes. Once presented withthe evidence against him, and realizing that
his family would soon find out thedetails of his crimes, including his ten
(05:23):
year old daughter, Keys began toexchange information. He thought that if he
could be untethered from the system,he could control the narrative, with the
ultimate goal to face the death penaltyas soon as possible. Let me just
talk about it kind of what Ithink with the ground rules that we've been
working on, you and I andthe other folks in this room, and
(05:44):
that is, we've agreed, Ithink to be reasonable with each other and
to be honest with each other,all right, I mean, yes,
do you feel that that's worked sofar? We'll see, Okay, well,
we know lay Street so far exceptfor the cigars I got out of
the deal, Coffin cigars. Notbelittling that. I'm just saying, we'll
see what happens. Okay, understood, fair enough, But I just wanted
(06:09):
to make sure that you felt sofar we've been reasonable and honest. Yes,
And can I guess the same ofyou. Yeah, I've been honest
with you, okay since I startedtalking anyway, right, understood, all
right? And I'm gonna use thoseas sort of the ground rules to make
sure that you don't you think thatwe're doing something different than what we said
(06:31):
we're going to do and that wecan have those expectations with you. Okay,
okay, all right. Since welast met, we've been following up
on what you told us about theCouriers. During an FBI interrogation that took
place on April twelfth, twenty twelve, the FBI pleaded with Keys to give
them more details on his many crimes, convincing him to finally give up one
(06:55):
of his cases. The cash thatcontained weapons used in the murder of William
and Rain Courier and a bank robberyin Tupper Lake, New York. At
this point, was still hidden besidea desolate highway along Blake Falls Reservoir in
Parishville. US attorney Kevin Feldis wastrying his best to get information from Israel
on a homemade silencer that was hiddenin the cash, to show Vermont law
(07:16):
enforcement officers that Keys was in factcooperating and that they should continue to keep
the offender buried from the public eye. Nearly an hour into the conversation,
Keys relented, Yeah, I tellyou what, I'll give you where the
(07:38):
guns are buried, and I'm gonnado that. I'm as we'll give you
there. I tossed that other gunup there too. It's not far away
from where they're buried. I'll giveyou that stuff today if I get my
(07:59):
cigar and I need a restroom break, and let need Google maps and on
a big screen. Probably it's gonnabe kind of hard for me to find,
but I can find it. Okay, if you want that stuff today,
I'll give it to you. Iget my cigar. But I'm not
going to tell the whole Curer,I'm not going to tell the whole story,
like everything that happened. I still, like I say, I still
(08:20):
think there's other things we need totalk about first. So well, that's
what we're doing, all right,But yeah, if you need if you
need the silencer, then yeah,okay. The homemade silencer was attached to
the weapon used to end William Currier'slife. Creating a homemade silencer as a
(08:41):
federal offense and recovering it would keepthe FBI in control of the investigation agents.
Pull up Google maps on the computer. Okay, so Jeff's got the
farmhouse up on the screen. Idon't know if that's what we need to
look or well, if we're gonnaneed to go to upstate New York,
probably start with Mola. In thefall of nineteen ninety seven, his Reel's
(09:11):
father gifted his seventeen year old sona rundown house on ten acres of land
in Constable, New York, asmall Franklin County town located five miles north
of Malone. Israel lived on thisproperty until his enlistment in the Army in
the summer of ninety eight. Overa decade later, he hit a weapons
cash sixty miles southwest along the shoreof the Blake Falls Reservoir. In this
(09:35):
episode, josh visits the location ofthis recovered cash, hidden by keys a
year before his arrest, to seewhat can be learned. I'm Dakota and
I'm Joshua. Welcome to Somewhere inthe Pines. Episode two, Blake Falls
Reservoir. SEU sure you no seservices begin? You're just a few more
(10:39):
minutes. Our schedule for twelve tenonce we get air wark. We've gotten
to two hours and thirty eight minutesand three weather in Buffalo up clear skies.
Light went to sixty feet degrees nineteen. He should be a little ahead
of schedule, but they got youto mention about the baths the arm required
(11:01):
the aggressive woman giving me shit aboutbumping into her is my loving wife,
Cheries. I was fumbling around withthe recorder, trying to figure out how
to use it along with the newmicrophones. We were headed back to Buffalo,
New York to visit my family.Sis and I are going to spend
a few days with my parents,and then I'm going to venture off alone
to try to find the exact locationof the Blake Falls cash. Oh.
(11:22):
I took one lab over there,didn't see it, stuck in the corner,
and then I just caught es,how's going. That's it? That's
it all right? Oh? Smilehere too then? Or is she?
Oh no, okay, no,she's cleaning. Oh. My dad,
who looks like a younger Willie Nelson, picked us up at the airport and
we made the one hour drive tothe farm. It's our first time back
since the pandemic hit, so thewelcoming committee was in full effect. He
(11:45):
was able of cows anymore. Lookat the glack house. We're here.
I went out and use cows wereout last week. I was up there
walking around the woods up there,trying to an that's the white house over
in the hill, right, yeah, Oh, the cows are out.
(12:05):
They're standing at the Bee Hives,but I don't know who's. The cows
were all over in front of MarkThere's. The cows were everywhere. But
we just went by the hives andtheir three cows standing in the driveway the
Bee Hives. Big cows, bigcows through every day. I don't even
(12:28):
know how I stay sane anymore.Oh hi, Oh my god, you
guys. I was a good o. The cows really out. There had
to be twenty of man how thereeverywhere. No cows were injured during the
(12:48):
making of this episode. That eveningwe gathered around the fire doing shots and
catching up with each other. Aswe settled in for the night, I
charged all the equipment and check directionsand anticipation for the long drive ahead.
It's October first, and I amjust about to leave it majorly overcast skies
(13:13):
that looks a lot like Portland,which is pretty nice. I had a
freaking horrible experience with the car rental, but we've got the car and we
are ready to go. Blake FallsReservoir. Blake Falls Reservoir is located along
(13:41):
the northwestern edge of the Atarontic Parkin New York. State. At six
million acres of both public and privateland, the park is the largest National
Historic landmark in the United States.For reference, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand
Canyon, Glacier, and the GreatSmokies National Parks could fit inside of the
Adirondiccks Reservoir, with a surface areaof six hundred and thirty one acres and
(14:03):
a ma's depth of forty five feetor fourteen meters, is a relatively popular
fishing spot. Northern Pike, walleyeand small mouth bass are common draw for
local outdoorsmen. With his proximity toseveral small towns and hamlets such as South
Colton, Stark, and Parishville,it provides quick access to camping, boating,
and hiking when the weather relents.This is a region of constant change,
(14:24):
with four legitimate seasons. Every turnof the new calendar year marks the
halfway point of an isolating snow filledwinter. Spring melt fills the thirty thousand
miles of streams and the three thousandlakes and reservoirs that provide refuge from the
sweltering humid summer months, ending withthe brilliant reds oranges and yellows of fall.
(14:46):
Oh We're now entering at Rodeck Park, so we've got just a few
few more miles to go. Windrips of vibrant leaves from the trees,
resulting in an ever changing clage ofcrispy, crackling leaves at your feet.
This is where I found myself thisautumn morning. Does it make my way
down the single lane back roads insearch of the rock formation that once hit
(15:07):
the cash placed by Israel? Whata dude? Hey, sorry, that
was like more than a minute.Oh you're good. How's it going,
man? It's going good. Iappreciate you trying to be on call during
(15:30):
all of this. I know it'snot Yeah, that's super easy to do.
Since Dakota couldn't make the trip,we will be communicating over the phone
as much as possible, So I'mgonna email you keep the picture of the
cash is it? Is it possiblepossible for you to just take a screenshot
(15:50):
and send to me at a textbecause I don't know if I'm gonna have
a service when I r get outthere. Yeah, okay, thank you.
So you're gonna spend the afternoon unitBlake Falls Reservoir. Yeah, and
then tonight are you going to headsouth to Tupper Lake or are you staying
up up? So that's so that'sthe plane at the moment, and hopefully
(16:11):
I do have service. I meanthat would really be useful. Yeah,
that would be helpful. I lookedit up and it looks like it's body.
Okay, okay, but there isservice up there. But it's body,
and it depends on who your carrieris, and you know, yeah,
yeah, does them anyone that itdoes, but just gets more disordered.
(16:34):
Keco East, I'm sorry. Weright follow that River Road down to
where it intersects with whatever that otherone was called. Oh, there it
is. I think that's it.That's it right there. I think that's
it. Right, that's it.I'm almost positive. Follow just to make
(16:59):
sure keep going south. Follow thatin the south. That's still River Road,
River Road, Stark Road. Yeah, that's it. Okay, I'll
fall Stark Road now that's where wewere start. So it keeps going.
(17:25):
Yeah, that's it all right.So because it was off Shark right hand
turn okay, and then I tooka left onto the road which would be
River Road. This is an excerptfrom the FBI case file logged April eighteenth,
twenty twelve, the day of theirsearch eight ten am. The area
(17:45):
of the search is located on thewest shore of the Blake Falls Reservoir,
to the south of the boat ramp. In the area of the boat ramp,
approximately fifty feet to the south,a creek goes under Rocket River Road
and empties into Blake Falls Reservoir.Evidence listed in the evidence log was located
approximately three hundred and twenty nine feetsouth of the boat ramp. The FBI
(18:06):
Underwater Search Evidence Response Team was presentat the beginning of the search, conducting
a site survey for a future diveoperation. Special agents searched around large rocks
between the boat launched driveway and thearea of the creek. Also walked the
woods on the south side of thecreek, approximately seventy five yards to the
south of the boat launch area driveway. The cleared area between the road and
(18:27):
the tree line is covered with thickgrowth of tall grass and sticker bushes.
There is a large rock approximately sixfeet high by twelve feet wide, located
immediately to the south side of thecreek near the reservoir. At two fifteen
PM, special agents located a largerock slab that was approximately four feet wide
(18:48):
by six feet tall. The rockslab was leaning against a large boulder,
which was mostly in the ground butwas partially exposed on the downhill side.
The four x six rock slab wasstanding on its end, and it was
leaning against the large boulder at abouta seventy degree angle, creating a sheltered
area between the rock slab and theboulder. On the ground. In the
sheltered area was a pile of bowlingball sized rocks which were covered by a
(19:12):
few broken branches. Among the rockswere chunks of moss which appeared to have
been placed there rather than growing therenaturally. A home depot bucket with lid
was concealed beneath these rocks in orderto measure the rock slab into the sketch
of the area. Measurements were takenfrom a power line pole to the south
of the four by six rock slaband from a tree on the Rocket River
(19:34):
Road. The location of the treewas also approximately three hundred and twenty nine
feet from the boat ramp driveway.The tags on the power line pole were
noted and photographed. The initials TKTwere spray painted in red on the tree
next to Rockett River Road TKT wasalso spray painted in red on the underside
(19:55):
of the four x six rock slab. The home depot bucket was carried back
to the air of the boat launch, where the lid was opened and the
contents of the bucket were inventoried,photographed, and packaged. We are about
nine minutes away from Blake Falls Reservoir. In two miles, take a slight
(20:15):
left turn onto start road. It'sbeen a long drive, putting quite a
few miles from Buffalo and really notgetting much sleep a few days beforehand.
I'm kind of dragging a little bit, so I to make sure I really
(20:37):
spend some time here and make surewe give it all the attention it deserves.
That just said welcome to Parishville.That looks like that might be the
spot on the right hand side.And then we've got the boat up coming
(21:00):
up right here. Wow, thisis crazy. Okay, we made it.
Let's see what we can do.Let's see. Oh wow, he
(21:27):
was so nice out, perfect autumnday. Oh that's so quiet. So
I don't have any service, butI did have service about five to ten
miles out, so I'm just gonnacheck in with the code after I go
(21:51):
walk to it all right, let'shead south. I mean, one thing
that's interesting about this is I doubtthat he even had to walk in the
(22:15):
field. It's seemed so secluded.They could probably just walk way along the
the road and get to the spot. Got private property on the other side
of the road. He got postedsigns. Hope where we got a car
mm one truck coming through. Igot a walked up on the rock and
(22:48):
found one of the markers was placedin nineteen ninety five. Very cool.
So yeah, we got a firstvehicle passing by. I've been here probably
ten minutes or so. At thispoint. I'm gonna sneak inside the woodline
here because I don't want anybody tostop, because I'm pretty pretty scared at
(23:15):
the moment. I'm not gonna lie. Okay, so you can say I've
only walked maybe a tenth of amile possibly. I mean, I'm already
over a big rock ledge and oh, I wonder if that's it. I
was gonna say, I already overa big rock ledge to where I can't
(23:40):
be seen from the parking lot.Oh wow, that's it. Holy shit.
I mean this was just right nextto the bow ramp. I can't
even believe it. And you cansee all the rocks and covered, they
got sticks over everything. I meanhe could have grabbed the thing in two
(24:02):
minutes and then back to the car. This is just, oh my god,
this is not all what I expected. This is just right off the
road. How could you store gunsthis close to a spot and just assume
they would never get found? It'samazing, God, it's crazy. I'm
(24:33):
silent closer now corbas fallen time.Now that I've got my bearings, I'm
just gonna walk around, take somemore video and take some photographs for Dakota.
You can see just water on oneside, in a not very busy
(24:53):
country road on the other. Keithfelt this was an ideal location to hide
a cash So what can I takefrom this? That is the question.
I don't want to count up atthe paces it would take to get to
to get to the car. Accordingto the FBI Evidence Recovery Log filed in
(25:15):
April of twenty twelve, the contentsof the bucket were as follows. Three
six a fifty round AR fifteen magazineconverted to fire twenty two caliber rounds,
a plastic tube fashion to use asa silencer, The trigger mechanism, scope
and spring to a Ruger twenty twocharger two four. I'm kind of stuck,
(25:40):
so I'm going to kind of scootover a Ruger ten twenty two with
scope bipod, four empty magazines,three loaded twenty two caliber magazines, one
box of twenty two caliber long riflehollow point ammunition, and two boxes of
regular twenty two caliber long rifle amIn the middle of this, there's a
(26:02):
giant cutout for the power lines,and this is almost dead smack in the
middle of that cutout, nineteen roundsof loose twenty two caliber ammunition, a
box of two and a half inchscrews, wire, black cloth, black
handle with metal clip, a maglight, flashlight, and a bag of
damp red I'm I'm definitely glad Icame here because I would have never expected
(26:26):
to be so close to a parkinglocation. I mean, I can't throw
very far, but I could probablythrow a rock and hit not maybe I
hit the boat launch, but atleast hit the driveway going to the boat
launch. I'm going to go backand take a look at that marker because
(26:48):
there they may have markers on themap, and that might be something that
might be worthwhile. Been a nicelittle stream here trying to get some of
that recorded to I guess on thestream it's actually kind of a yeah.
It's two big tubes, strainage tubesgoing underneath the road. So many get
(27:14):
closer, get a photo of that, because maybe the inlet into the reservoir
has something to do with the twothat'll head up to the geographic marker.
The marker that Josh found in thebeginning of his search, dated in nineteen
ninety five, is called the geodeticmarker, commonly driven into the rock or
ground. It's a marker placed bythe Department of Transportation to establish key permanent
(27:37):
survey points. The two tubes thatJosh saw those are called culverts, and
the cutout for the power lines isreferred to as a power line right of
way. This is important because it'sthe terminology we'll be using in the future.
And then, well, I thinkwe'll call it a day here and
try to find a campsite for nights. I hope you need to look around
(28:02):
a little more tomorrow. When Ithink of finding a cash I think about
the breadcrumbs, the trail of cluesthat could lead us to the right place.
(28:22):
At the right time, where someseemingly unimportant piece of information will mean
or change everything, another piece ofthe puzzle, another point on the map.
Maybe it is water access, maybeit's power lines. Maybe key spray
painted the TKT on the tree androck. But I know, thinking like
that, maybe romanticizing the situation,simplifying it down to a pipe dream or
(28:44):
a movie plot. The sobering realityis there's a great, big world out
there and the forest is dense withsecrets. The chances of us stumbling onto
a cash ten, twelve, twentyyears after the fact seem slim, but
it could be the smallest detail thatreveals everything. So maybe it's not complicated
at all. The breadcrumbs could leadus to a cash and that cash could
connect Israel to more victims. Sowe go because more important than searching is
(29:10):
where we search and why. Keys'sactivity all over the country can be very
telling if you pay attention, whetherhe's robbing a bank, burning a house,
abducting, or murdering, there's alwaysthe tael tale signs of where he
may have hidden or access to cash, guns, money, items taken from
victims all have to have a placeto go, So if we look at
the FBI timeline in relation to locationsand crimes. Along with the bread crumbs,
(29:33):
maybe that will point the way.One of the leads we are following
has to do with the purchase ofa sealable bucket lid, which keys use
for as blake falls cash. WhenI first heard of a serial killer bearing
murder kits all around the US,I wanted to know what his cash does
look like. I looked up apicture of this particular cash, an obvious
(29:57):
kill kit, and being a corpentof myself, I immediately nosed the bucket.
With over twenty two years of experience, I have purchased and reused hundreds
of buckets. Nothing groundbreaking here,but what stood out was the lid,
a very specific sealed, waterproof lidthat has a tamper proof tab. Knowing
I had never purchased one of theselids for work reasons, I then reached
(30:17):
out to Dakota to ask him ifhe had ever purchased one in his fifteen
years of carpentry experience. He alsohad never purchased one of the bucket lids.
This insight led us to reach outto current and pass coworkers to ask
the same question. Hey, man, how's it going? How you doing?
(30:41):
Hey? Dude? Hello? Hey, how's it going? Man?
Yea hey yeah yeah ye. Canyou hear me? Okay, yeah,
yeah I think so. Can youhear me now? Yeah? That's way
better? Dude? Okay, yeah, I went from cheapies to oppose.
Why don't you start with the goodones? Man? Three questions? So
first, first one, you're sendingme a text right now? Yeah?
(31:03):
I got the text yep. Sojust a photo of a bucket? Okay,
So I'm going to show you apicture bucket true? True? Can
I have that when you're done withit? The bucket? Yeah, a
new bucket. I sent you thepicture. You took a look at that,
right? Yes? I got threequestions here for you. First question
(31:26):
number one, how long have Ibeen a carpenter? I would say eight
years? How long have you beena carpenter or contractor? Forty years?
Forty years, fifteen years over twelveeight I had to think about that,
let's say twenty five years. Jong'sjust say six years over twenty five In
(31:48):
that twenty five year span, howmany Orange Home Depot buckets have you purched,
either by yourself or with the companycard? Roughly? I don't know,
a thousand maybe, okay, Idon't like cleaning buckets by extra buckets.
Out of those forty years, howmany times have you purchased an empty
(32:12):
five gallon bucket? Dozens, dozens, twenty four, fifty, yes,
right in there, between twenty fourand fifty. Yeah. Yeah, it's
hard to it's hard to pinpoint.Oh dude, dozens, I mean fifty
twenty times one hundred, ten totwenty Okay, that is that is extremely
(32:34):
low. I don't know, probablyaround like twenty. But you're also getting
like, you know, the freebuckets from like a five gallon paint bucket
or something like that. Yeah,I probably bought between five and ten.
If you look at that picture,there is a lid on it and it's
one of the lids that has theseal that you have to tear away.
(32:55):
Yeah, I see it. Youknow, it's like someone feeled it and
it hasn't been a yep. Sohow many in that twenty five year span
and thousands of buckets that you purchased, how many lids like that have you
purchased? Zero? Out of those, say, forty times, how many
times have you purchased the lid?Never? Never, not once, not
(33:20):
once? Okay, I don't knowany I don't know, yeah, yeap.
Just can you even buy those lids? Zero zero zero zero lids?
Maybe none or like one? Okay, if you did purchase one, can
(33:40):
you remember what you may have usedit for? Actually, you know what
I do remember? It was toBrian a turkey and uh I did it
was just to make sure it hada cover over it. When so you've
(34:04):
definitely never used one before work,not that I can remember. Now,
one hundred and seventy six years ofcarpentry experience, over one thousand, five
hundred buckets with a grand total ofless than five bucketlets purchased. Being a
contractor carpenter, it would not beout of the ordinary to purchase dozens of
(34:25):
five gallon buckets. But the lid, it seems, is an entirely different
story. Interestingly, the tab onthe bucket lit was not broken, so
he purchased the lid specifically for thiscash, and once he filled the bucket,
he sealed it shut. This maybe a tell for him if he
goes to recover the cash and seesthat the seal on the lid is no
(34:45):
longer intact, it could tell himthat the cash has been compromised. Israel
worked for the Niabay Tribal Council and, according to the case file, that
a system where employees would purchase itemswith their own money and get reimbursed,
or they would use a tribal consolecredit card. In later years, Keys
owned his own business in Alaska,home depot Telly's all business purchases, so
(35:06):
there's a chance we can check hisreceipts to see if he purchased any of
these lids. If the FBI cantrack Israel's business accounts and purchases to pinpoint
any time and place where he hadbought one of the sable bucket lids,
it could give us dates, timesand locations throughout the US that he hit
a cash and helped us speculate onhow may cashes are in a particular area.
With that in mind, we decidedit was time to reach out and
(35:28):
make contact with the FBI's Western WashingtonPoll's Boat Division to submit this tip in
hopes of beginning a working relationship withthem as we explore the Olympic Peninsula.
Thank you for calling the NBI officeat pull Boat, Washington. This is
(35:52):
an emergency me call our office atEU a thic year Moore. Okay,
so I just fucking turned off throughcorder and instantly came upon a cemetery.
It's oh man, so stark cemeteryis what I'm looking at. Really small,
(36:15):
really pretty cemetery. It's in aU shape. There's a little shed
back here. Looks like a likeI said, pretty easy to break into.
And there is there woods all theway around the thing. Back up
a little bit. Here, herewe go again. We've got the cemetery.
(36:38):
It's a really small cemetery. Lineof tree is all along the outside
of it. Just really beautiful,small cemetery. There's a shed way in
the back. What is interesting aboutthis is that this location is two miles
away from the boat ramp, sothis will definitely be something we need to
(36:59):
talk about. Hey, what's up, Hey dude, Sorry my phone wasn't
connected for some reason. Do youhave like five minutes of talk Nakota,
can you hear me? Why acemetery, disposal site, cemetery or abduction
(37:25):
site not an abduction site. It'ssomewhere to take somebody, so you'd stake
the cemeteries out kind of like youtalked about staking out some of these other
places, yeah, I would go. And a lot of those cemeteries have
(37:47):
maintenance sheds and stuff that are usuallypretty easy to get into, so I'm
pretty remote. This one's in themiddle of nowhere. Just for the remocus
of it, or specifically because it'sa centtery, well, it's more I
(38:22):
had more to do with the practicalitythan any kind of preference on my part.
Cemetery's a lot easier to explain yourpresence there too, if someone happens
to show up. It is justpissing down rain right now. I'm at
(38:49):
the campsite and it's been pouring forprobably two hours now. I was able
to get the fire lit and it'sdoing quite well, but it's not drying
off any of my clothes. It'snot keeping me warm or dry. It's
just fucking miserable out and I thinkthey finally turn off the generators. There's
(39:14):
somebody across the lake that's been runningsome generators the entire time. You can
kind of hear, but now it'sjust rain and fire. So I thought
i'd bring you out and enjoy thismoment with me. And yeah, here's
the fire, here's some rain.Cheers next time on Somewhere in the Pines,
(39:45):
Josh travels to Tupper Lake, NewYork, in search of a victim's
remains as we reflect on what we'velearned from Israel's Blake Falls Cash. Thanks
(40:09):
for listening to this episode of Somewherein the Pines. One simple way for
you to join the search is torate and review the show, and don't
forget to subscribe and tell a friend. For photos, videos, and more,
visit Somewhere in the Pines dot comfor ad free episodes and behind the
scenes content. Join us on Patreonat patreon dot com forward slash Somewhere in
the Pines. We'd also like togive a very special thank you to our
(40:31):
Patreon producer, Heather Horton Whedon.I'll definitely try to call you if I
(41:19):
have service there, Yeah, forsure, text me, boy, I
was gonna say, text me andyou if you lose service, yeah,
well I can work
This is a studio both and collaboration. Somewhere in the Pines is a serial
podcast containing adult content, including descriptionsof violence, sexual assault, and suicide.
Listener discretion is strongly advised. Lasttime on Somewhere in the Pines that
(00:30):
morning in twenty twenty two, wepacked our equipment into the car to make
the almost six hour drive to thetop of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Hoasically,
you have no reason to trust me, but I can tell you right now
there is no one who knows me, or who has ever known me,
who knows anything about me. Really. We believe that he had different types
of cases for different situations, andit was the overall plan that dictated the
(00:53):
type of cash that he used.We are just west of Court Angelus.
He drove up spirits about moving ona Friday, just off Highway one twelve.
You got your monster. I'm theonly one who knows about it.
Still going there with strangers. Intwenty twelve, the last in law enforcement
(01:26):
came face to face with one ofthis country's most prolific serial killers. His
name is Israel Keys. Investigators sayIsrael Keys had a so called murder kit.
He strategically hit a box filled withweapons and tools near the Windowski River.
There is a orange defot booked insidewould be a gun, weapons of
(01:47):
rope, sip ties. And healways flew somewhere, rented a car and
then drove hundreds, if not onethousand mile. He's told investigators he left
the kids in Washington State, Wyoming, and Texas and Land the hide one
and air. He has had awhole bunch of states. I mean Alaska,
Vermont, Washington, Warregon, NewYork, New Jersey, California,
Texas, Illinois, Tennessee. Hehad a cash in Washington. Very all
(02:12):
right, those kid. I wasused to dream that I'd find buried trade
and very well, if I can'tfind it, I might as well create
it. Seated at the end ofa long conference table, the head of
the table, the center of attentionsits Israel keys head down, shoulders,
(02:36):
resting at a slouch in his stateissued orange jumpsuit. He is hardly the
image of terror who collected victims allacross the United States. Israel fiddles with
the silver shackles that bind his wriststo his waist and again to his ankles.
The six foot two, one hundredand ninety five pound killer with his
full head of dark brown hair slickedback, silently waits for special agents and
(02:58):
federal lawyers to enter the room.He remains unnaturally still. If it wasn't
for the video time stamp, slowlytaking away each second, you may find
yourself wondering if you forgot to pressplay, you guys recording All right,
(03:32):
good morning, Israel. I'm justgonna make sure you know who's in the
room. I think you know everybodyso far, but Kevin fellowed us from
the US Attorney's Office, Frank Russoalso with the US Attorney's Office. You
know Officer Jeff Bell Angrish Police Department. And this is Agent Goden from the
FBI. Joline. Okay, Israelhas given a different colored chair from everyone
(03:53):
else in the room, the onlypadded chair at the table, a subliminal
tactic that gives Israe the illusion ofbeing in control and preserving his individuality.
Cups of coffee, candy bars,and cigars are common gestures provided by the
interrogators, tokens of a facade offriendship, collaboration, and understanding, little
(04:15):
dopamine spikes that will hopefully entice himto continue talking to continue. Coming back
from the outside looking in, It'seasy to get frustrated at times as law
enforcement navigate their way through a verydifferent type of investigation. But listen after
listen reveals a well scripted plan andexecution apprize many small details out of Israel
as possible, all while giving himthe illusion of control. They understood that
(04:40):
control is something that Israel craves morethan anything, and any attempt to lie
or mislead him could backfire and havesevere repercussions, potentially breaking the trust between
them and eliminating any chance of discoveringmore victims. Wanted to do the preliminaries
that we have to do, whichis first and it asks them to read
your right. We know you've heardhim before, but we're going to just
(05:01):
do that every time. Okay,all right, I'll go over them with
you, just like Kevin said,you know this already, but you have
the right to remain silent. Youunderstand that yes, okay, anything you
say, Kennon will be used toagainst you in a quarter of law.
Understand that yes. Once presented withthe evidence against him, and realizing that
his family would soon find out thedetails of his crimes, including his ten
(05:23):
year old daughter, Keys began toexchange information. He thought that if he
could be untethered from the system,he could control the narrative, with the
ultimate goal to face the death penaltyas soon as possible. Let me just
talk about it kind of what Ithink with the ground rules that we've been
working on, you and I andthe other folks in this room, and
(05:44):
that is, we've agreed, Ithink to be reasonable with each other and
to be honest with each other,all right, I mean, yes,
do you feel that that's worked sofar? We'll see, Okay, well,
we know lay Street so far exceptfor the cigars I got out of
the deal, Coffin cigars. Notbelittling that. I'm just saying, we'll
see what happens. Okay, understood, fair enough, But I just wanted
(06:09):
to make sure that you felt sofar we've been reasonable and honest. Yes,
And can I guess the same ofyou. Yeah, I've been honest
with you, okay since I startedtalking anyway, right, understood, all
right? And I'm gonna use thoseas sort of the ground rules to make
sure that you don't you think thatwe're doing something different than what we said
(06:31):
we're going to do and that wecan have those expectations with you. Okay,
okay, all right. Since welast met, we've been following up
on what you told us about theCouriers. During an FBI interrogation that took
place on April twelfth, twenty twelve, the FBI pleaded with Keys to give
them more details on his many crimes, convincing him to finally give up one
(06:55):
of his cases. The cash thatcontained weapons used in the murder of William
and Rain Courier and a bank robberyin Tupper Lake, New York. At
this point, was still hidden besidea desolate highway along Blake Falls Reservoir in
Parishville. US attorney Kevin Feldis wastrying his best to get information from Israel
on a homemade silencer that was hiddenin the cash, to show Vermont law
(07:16):
enforcement officers that Keys was in factcooperating and that they should continue to keep
the offender buried from the public eye. Nearly an hour into the conversation,
Keys relented, Yeah, I tellyou what, I'll give you where the
(07:38):
guns are buried, and I'm gonnado that. I'm as we'll give you
there. I tossed that other gunup there too. It's not far away
from where they're buried. I'll giveyou that stuff today if I get my
(07:59):
cigar and I need a restroom break, and let need Google maps and on
a big screen. Probably it's gonnabe kind of hard for me to find,
but I can find it. Okay, if you want that stuff today,
I'll give it to you. Iget my cigar. But I'm not
going to tell the whole Curer,I'm not going to tell the whole story,
like everything that happened. I still, like I say, I still
(08:20):
think there's other things we need totalk about first. So well, that's
what we're doing, all right,But yeah, if you need if you
need the silencer, then yeah,okay. The homemade silencer was attached to
the weapon used to end William Currier'slife. Creating a homemade silencer as a
(08:41):
federal offense and recovering it would keepthe FBI in control of the investigation agents.
Pull up Google maps on the computer. Okay, so Jeff's got the
farmhouse up on the screen. Idon't know if that's what we need to
look or well, if we're gonnaneed to go to upstate New York,
probably start with Mola. In thefall of nineteen ninety seven, his Reel's
(09:11):
father gifted his seventeen year old sona rundown house on ten acres of land
in Constable, New York, asmall Franklin County town located five miles north
of Malone. Israel lived on thisproperty until his enlistment in the Army in
the summer of ninety eight. Overa decade later, he hit a weapons
cash sixty miles southwest along the shoreof the Blake Falls Reservoir. In this
(09:35):
episode, josh visits the location ofthis recovered cash, hidden by keys a
year before his arrest, to seewhat can be learned. I'm Dakota and
I'm Joshua. Welcome to Somewhere inthe Pines. Episode two, Blake Falls
Reservoir. SEU sure you no seservices begin? You're just a few more
(10:39):
minutes. Our schedule for twelve tenonce we get air wark. We've gotten
to two hours and thirty eight minutesand three weather in Buffalo up clear skies.
Light went to sixty feet degrees nineteen. He should be a little ahead
of schedule, but they got youto mention about the baths the arm required
(11:01):
the aggressive woman giving me shit aboutbumping into her is my loving wife,
Cheries. I was fumbling around withthe recorder, trying to figure out how
to use it along with the newmicrophones. We were headed back to Buffalo,
New York to visit my family.Sis and I are going to spend
a few days with my parents,and then I'm going to venture off alone
to try to find the exact locationof the Blake Falls cash. Oh.
(11:22):
I took one lab over there,didn't see it, stuck in the corner,
and then I just caught es,how's going. That's it? That's
it all right? Oh? Smilehere too then? Or is she?
Oh no, okay, no,she's cleaning. Oh. My dad,
who looks like a younger Willie Nelson, picked us up at the airport and
we made the one hour drive tothe farm. It's our first time back
since the pandemic hit, so thewelcoming committee was in full effect. He
(11:45):
was able of cows anymore. Lookat the glack house. We're here.
I went out and use cows wereout last week. I was up there
walking around the woods up there,trying to an that's the white house over
in the hill, right, yeah, Oh, the cows are out.
(12:05):
They're standing at the Bee Hives,but I don't know who's. The cows
were all over in front of MarkThere's. The cows were everywhere. But
we just went by the hives andtheir three cows standing in the driveway the
Bee Hives. Big cows, bigcows through every day. I don't even
(12:28):
know how I stay sane anymore.Oh hi, Oh my god, you
guys. I was a good o. The cows really out. There had
to be twenty of man how thereeverywhere. No cows were injured during the
(12:48):
making of this episode. That eveningwe gathered around the fire doing shots and
catching up with each other. Aswe settled in for the night, I
charged all the equipment and check directionsand anticipation for the long drive ahead.
It's October first, and I amjust about to leave it majorly overcast skies
(13:13):
that looks a lot like Portland,which is pretty nice. I had a
freaking horrible experience with the car rental, but we've got the car and we
are ready to go. Blake FallsReservoir. Blake Falls Reservoir is located along
(13:41):
the northwestern edge of the Atarontic Parkin New York. State. At six
million acres of both public and privateland, the park is the largest National
Historic landmark in the United States.For reference, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand
Canyon, Glacier, and the GreatSmokies National Parks could fit inside of the
Adirondiccks Reservoir, with a surface areaof six hundred and thirty one acres and
(14:03):
a ma's depth of forty five feetor fourteen meters, is a relatively popular
fishing spot. Northern Pike, walleyeand small mouth bass are common draw for
local outdoorsmen. With his proximity toseveral small towns and hamlets such as South
Colton, Stark, and Parishville,it provides quick access to camping, boating,
and hiking when the weather relents.This is a region of constant change,
(14:24):
with four legitimate seasons. Every turnof the new calendar year marks the
halfway point of an isolating snow filledwinter. Spring melt fills the thirty thousand
miles of streams and the three thousandlakes and reservoirs that provide refuge from the
sweltering humid summer months, ending withthe brilliant reds oranges and yellows of fall.
(14:46):
Oh We're now entering at Rodeck Park, so we've got just a few
few more miles to go. Windrips of vibrant leaves from the trees,
resulting in an ever changing clage ofcrispy, crackling leaves at your feet.
This is where I found myself thisautumn morning. Does it make my way
down the single lane back roads insearch of the rock formation that once hit
(15:07):
the cash placed by Israel? Whata dude? Hey, sorry, that
was like more than a minute.Oh you're good. How's it going,
man? It's going good. Iappreciate you trying to be on call during
(15:30):
all of this. I know it'snot Yeah, that's super easy to do.
Since Dakota couldn't make the trip,we will be communicating over the phone
as much as possible, So I'mgonna email you keep the picture of the
cash is it? Is it possiblepossible for you to just take a screenshot
(15:50):
and send to me at a textbecause I don't know if I'm gonna have
a service when I r get outthere. Yeah, okay, thank you.
So you're gonna spend the afternoon unitBlake Falls Reservoir. Yeah, and
then tonight are you going to headsouth to Tupper Lake or are you staying
up up? So that's so that'sthe plane at the moment, and hopefully
(16:11):
I do have service. I meanthat would really be useful. Yeah,
that would be helpful. I lookedit up and it looks like it's body.
Okay, okay, but there isservice up there. But it's body,
and it depends on who your carrieris, and you know, yeah,
yeah, does them anyone that itdoes, but just gets more disordered.
(16:34):
Keco East, I'm sorry. Weright follow that River Road down to
where it intersects with whatever that otherone was called. Oh, there it
is. I think that's it.That's it right there. I think that's
it. Right, that's it.I'm almost positive. Follow just to make
(16:59):
sure keep going south. Follow thatin the south. That's still River Road,
River Road, Stark Road. Yeah, that's it. Okay, I'll
fall Stark Road now that's where wewere start. So it keeps going.
(17:25):
Yeah, that's it all right.So because it was off Shark right hand
turn okay, and then I tooka left onto the road which would be
River Road. This is an excerptfrom the FBI case file logged April eighteenth,
twenty twelve, the day of theirsearch eight ten am. The area
(17:45):
of the search is located on thewest shore of the Blake Falls Reservoir,
to the south of the boat ramp. In the area of the boat ramp,
approximately fifty feet to the south,a creek goes under Rocket River Road
and empties into Blake Falls Reservoir.Evidence listed in the evidence log was located
approximately three hundred and twenty nine feetsouth of the boat ramp. The FBI
(18:06):
Underwater Search Evidence Response Team was presentat the beginning of the search, conducting
a site survey for a future diveoperation. Special agents searched around large rocks
between the boat launched driveway and thearea of the creek. Also walked the
woods on the south side of thecreek, approximately seventy five yards to the
south of the boat launch area driveway. The cleared area between the road and
(18:27):
the tree line is covered with thickgrowth of tall grass and sticker bushes.
There is a large rock approximately sixfeet high by twelve feet wide, located
immediately to the south side of thecreek near the reservoir. At two fifteen
PM, special agents located a largerock slab that was approximately four feet wide
(18:48):
by six feet tall. The rockslab was leaning against a large boulder,
which was mostly in the ground butwas partially exposed on the downhill side.
The four x six rock slab wasstanding on its end, and it was
leaning against the large boulder at abouta seventy degree angle, creating a sheltered
area between the rock slab and theboulder. On the ground. In the
sheltered area was a pile of bowlingball sized rocks which were covered by a
(19:12):
few broken branches. Among the rockswere chunks of moss which appeared to have
been placed there rather than growing therenaturally. A home depot bucket with lid
was concealed beneath these rocks in orderto measure the rock slab into the sketch
of the area. Measurements were takenfrom a power line pole to the south
of the four by six rock slaband from a tree on the Rocket River
(19:34):
Road. The location of the treewas also approximately three hundred and twenty nine
feet from the boat ramp driveway.The tags on the power line pole were
noted and photographed. The initials TKTwere spray painted in red on the tree
next to Rockett River Road TKT wasalso spray painted in red on the underside
(19:55):
of the four x six rock slab. The home depot bucket was carried back
to the air of the boat launch, where the lid was opened and the
contents of the bucket were inventoried,photographed, and packaged. We are about
nine minutes away from Blake Falls Reservoir. In two miles, take a slight
(20:15):
left turn onto start road. It'sbeen a long drive, putting quite a
few miles from Buffalo and really notgetting much sleep a few days beforehand.
I'm kind of dragging a little bit, so I to make sure I really
(20:37):
spend some time here and make surewe give it all the attention it deserves.
That just said welcome to Parishville.That looks like that might be the
spot on the right hand side.And then we've got the boat up coming
(21:00):
up right here. Wow, thisis crazy. Okay, we made it.
Let's see what we can do.Let's see. Oh wow, he
(21:27):
was so nice out, perfect autumnday. Oh that's so quiet. So
I don't have any service, butI did have service about five to ten
miles out, so I'm just gonnacheck in with the code after I go
(21:51):
walk to it all right, let'shead south. I mean, one thing
that's interesting about this is I doubtthat he even had to walk in the
(22:15):
field. It's seemed so secluded.They could probably just walk way along the
the road and get to the spot. Got private property on the other side
of the road. He got postedsigns. Hope where we got a car
mm one truck coming through. Igot a walked up on the rock and
(22:48):
found one of the markers was placedin nineteen ninety five. Very cool.
So yeah, we got a firstvehicle passing by. I've been here probably
ten minutes or so. At thispoint. I'm gonna sneak inside the woodline
here because I don't want anybody tostop, because I'm pretty pretty scared at
(23:15):
the moment. I'm not gonna lie. Okay, so you can say I've
only walked maybe a tenth of amile possibly. I mean, I'm already
over a big rock ledge and oh, I wonder if that's it. I
was gonna say, I already overa big rock ledge to where I can't
(23:40):
be seen from the parking lot.Oh wow, that's it. Holy shit.
I mean this was just right nextto the bow ramp. I can't
even believe it. And you cansee all the rocks and covered, they
got sticks over everything. I meanhe could have grabbed the thing in two
(24:02):
minutes and then back to the car. This is just, oh my god,
this is not all what I expected. This is just right off the
road. How could you store gunsthis close to a spot and just assume
they would never get found? It'samazing, God, it's crazy. I'm
(24:33):
silent closer now corbas fallen time.Now that I've got my bearings, I'm
just gonna walk around, take somemore video and take some photographs for Dakota.
You can see just water on oneside, in a not very busy
(24:53):
country road on the other. Keithfelt this was an ideal location to hide
a cash So what can I takefrom this? That is the question.
I don't want to count up atthe paces it would take to get to
to get to the car. Accordingto the FBI Evidence Recovery Log filed in
(25:15):
April of twenty twelve, the contentsof the bucket were as follows. Three
six a fifty round AR fifteen magazineconverted to fire twenty two caliber rounds,
a plastic tube fashion to use asa silencer, The trigger mechanism, scope
and spring to a Ruger twenty twocharger two four. I'm kind of stuck,
(25:40):
so I'm going to kind of scootover a Ruger ten twenty two with
scope bipod, four empty magazines,three loaded twenty two caliber magazines, one
box of twenty two caliber long riflehollow point ammunition, and two boxes of
regular twenty two caliber long rifle amIn the middle of this, there's a
(26:02):
giant cutout for the power lines,and this is almost dead smack in the
middle of that cutout, nineteen roundsof loose twenty two caliber ammunition, a
box of two and a half inchscrews, wire, black cloth, black
handle with metal clip, a maglight, flashlight, and a bag of
damp red I'm I'm definitely glad Icame here because I would have never expected
(26:26):
to be so close to a parkinglocation. I mean, I can't throw
very far, but I could probablythrow a rock and hit not maybe I
hit the boat launch, but atleast hit the driveway going to the boat
launch. I'm going to go backand take a look at that marker because
(26:48):
there they may have markers on themap, and that might be something that
might be worthwhile. Been a nicelittle stream here trying to get some of
that recorded to I guess on thestream it's actually kind of a yeah.
It's two big tubes, strainage tubesgoing underneath the road. So many get
(27:14):
closer, get a photo of that, because maybe the inlet into the reservoir
has something to do with the twothat'll head up to the geographic marker.
The marker that Josh found in thebeginning of his search, dated in nineteen
ninety five, is called the geodeticmarker, commonly driven into the rock or
ground. It's a marker placed bythe Department of Transportation to establish key permanent
(27:37):
survey points. The two tubes thatJosh saw those are called culverts, and
the cutout for the power lines isreferred to as a power line right of
way. This is important because it'sthe terminology we'll be using in the future.
And then, well, I thinkwe'll call it a day here and
try to find a campsite for nights. I hope you need to look around
(28:02):
a little more tomorrow. When Ithink of finding a cash I think about
the breadcrumbs, the trail of cluesthat could lead us to the right place.
(28:22):
At the right time, where someseemingly unimportant piece of information will mean
or change everything, another piece ofthe puzzle, another point on the map.
Maybe it is water access, maybeit's power lines. Maybe key spray
painted the TKT on the tree androck. But I know, thinking like
that, maybe romanticizing the situation,simplifying it down to a pipe dream or
(28:44):
a movie plot. The sobering realityis there's a great, big world out
there and the forest is dense withsecrets. The chances of us stumbling onto
a cash ten, twelve, twentyyears after the fact seem slim, but
it could be the smallest detail thatreveals everything. So maybe it's not complicated
at all. The breadcrumbs could leadus to a cash and that cash could
connect Israel to more victims. Sowe go because more important than searching is
(29:10):
where we search and why. Keys'sactivity all over the country can be very
telling if you pay attention, whetherhe's robbing a bank, burning a house,
abducting, or murdering, there's alwaysthe tael tale signs of where he
may have hidden or access to cash, guns, money, items taken from
victims all have to have a placeto go, So if we look at
the FBI timeline in relation to locationsand crimes. Along with the bread crumbs,
(29:33):
maybe that will point the way.One of the leads we are following
has to do with the purchase ofa sealable bucket lid, which keys use
for as blake falls cash. WhenI first heard of a serial killer bearing
murder kits all around the US,I wanted to know what his cash does
look like. I looked up apicture of this particular cash, an obvious
(29:57):
kill kit, and being a corpentof myself, I immediately nosed the bucket.
With over twenty two years of experience, I have purchased and reused hundreds
of buckets. Nothing groundbreaking here,but what stood out was the lid,
a very specific sealed, waterproof lidthat has a tamper proof tab. Knowing
I had never purchased one of theselids for work reasons, I then reached
(30:17):
out to Dakota to ask him ifhe had ever purchased one in his fifteen
years of carpentry experience. He alsohad never purchased one of the bucket lids.
This insight led us to reach outto current and pass coworkers to ask
the same question. Hey, man, how's it going? How you doing?
(30:41):
Hey? Dude? Hello? Hey, how's it going? Man?
Yea hey yeah yeah ye. Canyou hear me? Okay, yeah,
yeah I think so. Can youhear me now? Yeah? That's way
better? Dude? Okay, yeah, I went from cheapies to oppose.
Why don't you start with the goodones? Man? Three questions? So
first, first one, you're sendingme a text right now? Yeah?
(31:03):
I got the text yep. Sojust a photo of a bucket? Okay,
So I'm going to show you apicture bucket true? True? Can
I have that when you're done withit? The bucket? Yeah, a
new bucket. I sent you thepicture. You took a look at that,
right? Yes? I got threequestions here for you. First question
(31:26):
number one, how long have Ibeen a carpenter? I would say eight
years? How long have you beena carpenter or contractor? Forty years?
Forty years, fifteen years over twelveeight I had to think about that,
let's say twenty five years. Jong'sjust say six years over twenty five In
(31:48):
that twenty five year span, howmany Orange Home Depot buckets have you purched,
either by yourself or with the companycard? Roughly? I don't know,
a thousand maybe, okay, Idon't like cleaning buckets by extra buckets.
Out of those forty years, howmany times have you purchased an empty
(32:12):
five gallon bucket? Dozens, dozens, twenty four, fifty, yes,
right in there, between twenty fourand fifty. Yeah. Yeah, it's
hard to it's hard to pinpoint.Oh dude, dozens, I mean fifty
twenty times one hundred, ten totwenty Okay, that is that is extremely
(32:34):
low. I don't know, probablyaround like twenty. But you're also getting
like, you know, the freebuckets from like a five gallon paint bucket
or something like that. Yeah,I probably bought between five and ten.
If you look at that picture,there is a lid on it and it's
one of the lids that has theseal that you have to tear away.
(32:55):
Yeah, I see it. Youknow, it's like someone feeled it and
it hasn't been a yep. Sohow many in that twenty five year span
and thousands of buckets that you purchased, how many lids like that have you
purchased? Zero? Out of those, say, forty times, how many
times have you purchased the lid?Never? Never, not once, not
(33:20):
once? Okay, I don't knowany I don't know, yeah, yeap.
Just can you even buy those lids? Zero zero zero zero lids?
Maybe none or like one? Okay, if you did purchase one, can
(33:40):
you remember what you may have usedit for? Actually, you know what
I do remember? It was toBrian a turkey and uh I did it
was just to make sure it hada cover over it. When so you've
(34:04):
definitely never used one before work,not that I can remember. Now,
one hundred and seventy six years ofcarpentry experience, over one thousand, five
hundred buckets with a grand total ofless than five bucketlets purchased. Being a
contractor carpenter, it would not beout of the ordinary to purchase dozens of
(34:25):
five gallon buckets. But the lid, it seems, is an entirely different
story. Interestingly, the tab onthe bucket lit was not broken, so
he purchased the lid specifically for thiscash, and once he filled the bucket,
he sealed it shut. This maybe a tell for him if he
goes to recover the cash and seesthat the seal on the lid is no
(34:45):
longer intact, it could tell himthat the cash has been compromised. Israel
worked for the Niabay Tribal Council and, according to the case file, that
a system where employees would purchase itemswith their own money and get reimbursed,
or they would use a tribal consolecredit card. In later years, Keys
owned his own business in Alaska,home depot Telly's all business purchases, so
(35:06):
there's a chance we can check hisreceipts to see if he purchased any of
these lids. If the FBI cantrack Israel's business accounts and purchases to pinpoint
any time and place where he hadbought one of the sable bucket lids,
it could give us dates, timesand locations throughout the US that he hit
a cash and helped us speculate onhow may cashes are in a particular area.
With that in mind, we decidedit was time to reach out and
(35:28):
make contact with the FBI's Western WashingtonPoll's Boat Division to submit this tip in
hopes of beginning a working relationship withthem as we explore the Olympic Peninsula.
Thank you for calling the NBI officeat pull Boat, Washington. This is
(35:52):
an emergency me call our office atEU a thic year Moore. Okay,
so I just fucking turned off throughcorder and instantly came upon a cemetery.
It's oh man, so stark cemeteryis what I'm looking at. Really small,
(36:15):
really pretty cemetery. It's in aU shape. There's a little shed
back here. Looks like a likeI said, pretty easy to break into.
And there is there woods all theway around the thing. Back up
a little bit. Here, herewe go again. We've got the cemetery.
(36:38):
It's a really small cemetery. Lineof tree is all along the outside
of it. Just really beautiful,small cemetery. There's a shed way in
the back. What is interesting aboutthis is that this location is two miles
away from the boat ramp, sothis will definitely be something we need to
(36:59):
talk about. Hey, what's up, Hey dude, Sorry my phone wasn't
connected for some reason. Do youhave like five minutes of talk Nakota,
can you hear me? Why acemetery, disposal site, cemetery or abduction
(37:25):
site not an abduction site. It'ssomewhere to take somebody, so you'd stake
the cemeteries out kind of like youtalked about staking out some of these other
places, yeah, I would go. And a lot of those cemeteries have
(37:47):
maintenance sheds and stuff that are usuallypretty easy to get into, so I'm
pretty remote. This one's in themiddle of nowhere. Just for the remocus
of it, or specifically because it'sa centtery, well, it's more I
(38:22):
had more to do with the practicalitythan any kind of preference on my part.
Cemetery's a lot easier to explain yourpresence there too, if someone happens
to show up. It is justpissing down rain right now. I'm at
(38:49):
the campsite and it's been pouring forprobably two hours now. I was able
to get the fire lit and it'sdoing quite well, but it's not drying
off any of my clothes. It'snot keeping me warm or dry. It's
just fucking miserable out and I thinkthey finally turn off the generators. There's
(39:14):
somebody across the lake that's been runningsome generators the entire time. You can
kind of hear, but now it'sjust rain and fire. So I thought
i'd bring you out and enjoy thismoment with me. And yeah, here's
the fire, here's some rain.Cheers next time on Somewhere in the Pines,
(39:45):
Josh travels to Tupper Lake, NewYork, in search of a victim's
remains as we reflect on what we'velearned from Israel's Blake Falls Cash. Thanks
(40:09):
for listening to this episode of Somewherein the Pines. One simple way for
you to join the search is torate and review the show, and don't
forget to subscribe and tell a friend. For photos, videos, and more,
visit Somewhere in the Pines dot comfor ad free episodes and behind the
scenes content. Join us on Patreonat patreon dot com forward slash Somewhere in
the Pines. We'd also like togive a very special thank you to our
(40:31):
Patreon producer, Heather Horton Whedon.I'll definitely try to call you if I
(41:19):
have service there, Yeah, forsure, text me, boy, I
was gonna say, text me andyou if you lose service, yeah,
well I can work
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